The Portland daily press., 1887-11-09

I anu dh - 9Nohs Va
ase; se. 1 io was residing in Pennington in Au-
suSSt, ion. L recognize my signature as
subscribing witness to the will now shown
me. saw Mrs. Belcher sign this instru-
,i1e1' ,aS1 M ~ was signed at her house August o
ta taIi, l should say between and 8 o'clock in
,s,e Ine eIehlns' In the southeast room upon the
l9Wer moor. 1t was after tea There were
also AIS present my wife. e. Sprague, Swift and
as Di Nara Nneney. Ihe other subscribing witness
SpIagne Swift They signed in my presence
anu the presence of Mrs Belcher, at the
same tllhe signed. DIR. Cheney came to my
i; linuse az the request of Mrs. Belcher, and in
Slteu Wy US 70 go down and sign her will, and
Sprague Swift to 90. We ali three went
Im DOWN 70 Mrs. Belcher's together. Miss Es-
! tene nigglhs let us in at the door. We went
lia imilneaiateIy to the room where the will was
ti IL 1here was no one in the room at
Mrs. Belcher came In directly. She had
paper In her hand. the will. the same paper
tnat now hold. She placed it upon the ia
r;.s pie anu asked US to come forward and see her
sSIr siSn nel Iass VIII and testament. We went
WItnIesS, my wife signed next, and then Mr..
oWiII After the will was signed, we stop
pet nearly half an hour conversing. can
hoo,, hoe ieileliloer what we talked about. L had
uMeen M Macqualnted with Mrs. Belcner about 90
years, We both were natives of Farming
1Il Eon. l nave always lived there, and Mrs.
Belcher always lived there. From 1869, the
time OF the death of Mrs. Belcher's son Hi
iS' iSe1' 4oWn 70 the date of the will, in August,
1851, saw Mrs. Belcher two or three times
year, at her house. ard saw her oftener than
that passing by and calling there.
Q;-baslng your answer upon your ac-
~. duainItance 1Il with her, and her appearance at
soe sae i,ll,e ~ sne executed the will, what do you
Say Ty III regard to her being of sound mind?
was she of sound mind, or not?
Al should say that she was of sound
mlnd could not say what was done with
ne Sad Wi v N after ber u was signed Mrs Belcher
there. 1t Is my impression that she retained
II In her hand, but cannot say She had it
IN ner possession there on the table in front
OF her. My wife and / then left and went
nome nome, and Mr.. Swift left at the same time.
Dr. Cheney did not leave that know OF. At
that time lived at the corner of High and
ADDISON streets, in Pennington village.
could not say whether DR.. Cheney stopped
at my house the night before. He did not
sIop tnere very often when in Pennington,
not stop at my house every time he was
there. think he did generally, but / can
not tell with certainty. l never was much
acquainted with DIR. Cheney until 1870. |
thlnk IL was near 1870 that he called at my
house He taught school in Farmington at
one time. knew when he was there teach
ing school, but was not acquainted with
MIN. l do not remember of ever being at
MIS-. Beicher's house with DR.. Cheney be-
lore tnls VIII was signed. Mr.. Swift married
my daughter. de lived almost opposite Mrs.
Belcher's at that time. DR.. Cheney did not
suggest him as witness | selected him.
de was employed at printing in the Chron-
lcle once at that time, and went there and
requested MN TO go. 1 arranged to call for
MIN tnat eveninguand did so, and we all
three went over together. l should say that
IL was about the middle of the afternoon
that Dr. Cheney communicated Mrs. Belch-
er request for me to be Zone of the sub
scribing witnesses to the will and / went
for Mr.. Swift directly afterwards and found
hlm at the printing Office"
Ss-Erdmined MY knowledge that the
Will was signed August 9, 1877, is derived
from the date of the will that is all the
means have of fixing the exact date. /
could not say with certainty whether DR..
Cheney stopped at my house the night be-
lore TINS instrument was signed, but should
rather think he did. He was in the habit Of
stopping there occasionally. In the winter
time when he came to my house one reason
why he came was that he had warm room
to occupy. When DR.. Cheney requested us
to go to Mrs. Belcher he gave no reason for
Wishing Mn hing US rs to go in the evening.
he sald 1t was Mrs. Belcher's request
that l should procure third person,
lt'was after dark when we arrived We
were there perhaps ten or fifteen minutes be-
fore the instrument was signed. There was
no one else In the room besides the three
witnesses and Dr. Cheney and Mrs. Belcher.
| do not know whether Nathan Il. Bachus
was IN the house. | do not know whether it
was the request, of DIR. Cheney or Mrs.
Belcher that the matter should be kept Sc
cret; IT was thought best not to say much
about it, There was no part of the will read
In our presence, or in the presence of Mrs.
Belcher. or by her, to my knowledge. | do
not remember of going there with DR.. Che
ney at any other time. l do not know
whether Dr. Cheney was there frequently or
not II tho TINA nf ha fire. ho1 E
Mrs. Belcher,s property, and | went down
and looked after it as well as could. Soon
after Mrs. Belcher's death Dr. Cheney gave
me authority in writing to take charge Of
her property. Ihave not that writing with
me. This was handed to me by DR.. Cheney
just as he was stepping aboard the cars /
could not say whether before or after the fu-
neral. He was there at the funeral. / was
concerning Mrs. Becher's health by Miss
Higgins think | wrote to DR.. Cheney
that she was dead. I.did not telegraph him.
had no interest in any manner in getting
Mrs. Belcher to make her will in favor of
Bates College; | never mentioned the sub
ject to her, nor did she to me. There was
never anything said by her about the dispo-
stlon OF her property in my presence, nor
anything said that evening about her rela-
tives:, They were not mentioned, neither
was Bates College,"
Witness was cross-examined further at
considerable length, but nothing new elicit
ed.
Mrs. Ursula K. Butler, wife Of the precei-
ing witness, was next called. Her testi-
mony substantially corrob0rated that of the
other witnesses.
At this point the court adjourned until af
ternoon.
AFTERNOON SESSION
The court came in at 8 o'clock E. Sprague
Swift, the third subscribing witness. was
then called, and testified relative to the exc
cution of the will substantially the same as
the two former witnesses. The original will
was then put in evidence by the proponents.
Josiah Fl. Thompson was then called, and
testified: / reside at Pennington, and am
the clerk of the courts for Franklin county,
and have occupied that position since Jan. /.
1888. recognize my signature as a subscrib-
ing witness to the instrument now shown
me, purporting to be codicil to the will of
Mrs Sarah S. Belcher. / saw Mrs. Belcher
affix her signature to that codcil. The sub
scribing witnesses are James S. Bracket.
Ella r. Bracket and Josiah II. Thompson.
l saw James S. Bracket and Ella r. Brack-
EFT affix their signatures, and then affixed
mine. We all signed in the presence of Sa-
rah S. Belcher, and at her request James
S. Bracket is now dead. attended his fu-
neral and saw his remains after DEATH The
subscribing witnesses to the codcil all signed
In the presence of each other, and in the
presence of Mrs. Belcher, one after the 9th
er. Mrs. Belcher and the witnesses sub
scribed at Mrs. Belcher's house, on Main
street, in Pennington village, in the south
east room of the building, upon the first
toor. Previous to my election as clerk of
the courts, | was lawyer by profession. /
90 not recollect whether the certificate signed
by the witnesses was read aloud, but am
sure read it. DR.. Oren b. Cheney was also
present. As l recollect, this codicil
was signed at about z o'clock in
the evening, September 3rd, 1888.
refresh my recollection as to the date by
reference to the instrument l have no dis
tlnct recollection about the seal, but pre-
sumo IL was affixed at the time Mrs. Belcher
signed. Inc attesting clause states that it
was sealed. went to Mrs. Belcher's at the
request OF James s, Bracket, who was then
tne Register OF Deeds for Franklin county.
met Mr.; and Mrs. Bracket at their house
ana we all went there together. l have no
dlstlnct recollection, but | think Miss
Estelle higgins admitted us, and we were
SHOWN directly into the paror. DR.. Cheney
was there, and Mrs. Belcher came In imme-
dlately. think Dr. Cheney remarked that
we had been called there to witness a codicil
to Mrs. Belcher's will, and suggested that
we we Prs9eveed sv 20 business; and Mrs. Belcher